Order Types

Basic Order Types

Market Order

Executes immediately at the best available price.

Use case: When you need immediate execution and price is less important
Example: Market buy 100 contracts → fills at current best ask price

Limit Order

Rests on the order book at a specified price.

Use case: When you want price control and can wait for execution
Example: Limit buy $100$ @ $0.65$ → only fills at $0.65 or better

Time in Force

IOC : Immediate or Cancel - executes immediately for any available quantity, and cancels any unfilled remainder.
- Example: IOC buy 10 contracts; if only 6 are available now, 6 fill and 4 are canceled.
FOK : Fill-Or-Kill - must be filled completely and immediately, or the entire order is canceled.
- Example: FOK buy 10 contracts; if all 10 cannot fill right now, nothing is executed.
GTD : Good-Till-Date - stays active until a specific date/time, unless filled or canceled earlier.
- Example: GTD limit buy valid until 2026-02-20 15:00 UTC.
GTC : Good-Till-Cancelled - stays active until fully filled or manually canceled (subject to platform-level max lifetime limits).
- Example: Rest a GTC limit order on the book until market reaches your price.

Conditional Order Types

Conditional orders are not placed immediately. They activate (“trigger”) when specific conditions are met.

Stop Orders

Stop orders trigger when price moves to a predefined stop price, using the traded price. On a buy stop order, the order is triggered if someone trades at or above the stop price. On a sell stop order, the order is triggered if someone trades at or below the stop price.

Stop Market
Stop Limit

Triggers when market trades at or through your stop price, then executes as a market order (immediate fill at best available price).

The market is currently trading at $0.70. You want to enter a short position
if the market trades below or at $0.60.
→ Stop Market SELL @ $0.60
→ Triggers when price ≤ $0.60
→ Sends market sell order → fills immediately

Triggers when market trades at or through your stop price, then executes as a limit order at your specified limit price.

The market is currently trading at $0.70. You want to enter a short position
if the market trades below or at $0.60, but you don't want to sell at lower
than $0.59.
→ Stop Limit SELL @ $0.60, Limit $0.59
→ Triggers when price ≤ $0.60
→ Sends limit sell order @ $0.59 → waits for fill at $0.59 or better

May not fill if price moves too fast through your limit.

Directional logic:

BUY stop: Triggers at or above stop price (breakout entry or short exit)
SELL stop: Triggers at or below stop price (stop loss or long exit)

Reverse Stop Orders

Reverse stop orders trigger when price moves in your desired direction. Used exclusively for take profit scenarios. A “reverse stop” is called “reverse” because it triggers in the opposite direction of a normal stop order.

Reverse Stop Market (TP Market)
Reverse Stop Limit (TP Limit)

Triggers when market trades at or through your target price (opposite direction from normal stop), then executes as a market order.

You're LONG at $0.60, want to take profit if price rises to $0.80
→ TP Market (Reverse Stop Market) SELL @ $0.80
→ Normal stop would trigger BELOW, but reverse stop triggers ABOVE
→ Triggers when price ≥ $0.80
→ Sends market sell order → fills immediately

Triggers when market trades at or through your target price, then executes as a limit order at your specified limit price.

You're LONG at $0.60, want to take profit around $0.80 but not worse than $0.79
→ TP Limit (Reverse Stop Limit) SELL @ $0.80, Limit $0.79
→ Triggers when price ≥ $0.80
→ Sends limit sell order @ $0.79 → waits for fill at $0.79 or better

Directional logic (reversed from normal stop):

BUY reverse stop: Triggers at or below target (opposite of normal buy stop)
SELL reverse stop: Triggers at or above target (opposite of normal sell stop)

Why “reverse”?

Normal SELL stop @ $0.60 triggers when price ≤$ 0.60 (price falling)
SELL reverse stop @ $0.80 triggers when price ≥$ 0.80 (price rising)
The trigger direction is reversed!

Take Profit Orders (TP)

Parent-child orders: Automatically triggers a child order when a parent order fills.

TP Market
TP Limit

Triggers when parent order is fully filled, then activates a reverse stop market order.

Place limit buy 100 @ $0.60 WITH TP Market @ $0.80
→ When buy fills → immediately activates reverse STOP Market SELL @ $0.80
→ That reverse stop triggers when price ≥ $0.80, and send a sell market order

Triggers when parent order is fully filled, then activates a limit order.

Place limit buy 100 @ $0.60 WITH TP Limit @ $0.80
→ When buy fills → activates TP Limit SELL
→ Sends limit sell @ $0.80

Stop Loss Orders (SL)

Parent-child orders: Automatically triggers a child order when a parent order fills.

SL Market
SL Limit

Triggers when parent order is fully filled, then activates a stop market order.

Place limit buy 100 @ $0.60 WITH SL Market @ $0.55
→ When buy fills → immediately activates SL Market SELL @ $0.55
→ That SL Market is a stop order that triggers when price ≤ $0.55
→ That stop triggers when price ≤ $0.55, and send a sell market order

Triggers when parent order is fully filled, then activates a stop limit order.

Place limit buy 100 @ $0.60 WITH SL Limit @ $0.55 (limit $0.54)
→ When buy fills → activates SL Limit SELL
→ Triggers when price ≤ $0.55 → sends limit sell @ $0.54

Comparison

Type	Trigger	Execution	Primary Use
Market	Immediate	Best price	Need immediate fill
Limit	Rests on book	At limit or better	Price control
Stop Market	Price moves against	Market order	Stop loss, breakout
Stop Limit	Price moves against	Limit order	Stop loss with price protection
TP Market	Parent fills + price moves for	Market via reverse stop	Take profit
TP Limit	Parent fills + price moves for	Limit via reverse stop	Take profit with control
SL Market	Parent fills + price moves against	Market via stop	Stop loss from entry
SL Limit	Parent fills + price moves against	Limit via stop	Stop loss with price floor

Key Concepts

Stop vs Reverse Stop

Stop: Triggers when price moves AGAINST you (exit losses, enter breakouts)
Reverse Stop: Triggers when price moves FOR you (take profits)

Parent-Child Orders

TP/SL orders are “meta-orders” that activate child orders when a parent fills
The child order itself is usually a stop or reverse stop order
This creates a two-step process: Parent fill → Child activation → Price trigger → Execution

Trigger Direction Summary

Side	Stop (Loss/Breakout)	Reverse Stop (Profit)
BUY	Triggers ≥ stop price	Triggers ≤ target price
SELL	Triggers ≤ stop price	Triggers ≥ target price

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Basic Order Types

Market Order

Limit Order

Time in Force

Conditional Order Types

Stop Orders

Reverse Stop Orders

Take Profit Orders (TP)

Stop Loss Orders (SL)

Comparison

Key Concepts

Stop vs Reverse Stop

Parent-Child Orders

Trigger Direction Summary

​Basic Order Types

​Market Order

​Limit Order

​Time in Force

​Conditional Order Types

​Stop Orders

​Reverse Stop Orders

​Take Profit Orders (TP)

​Stop Loss Orders (SL)

​Comparison

​Key Concepts

​Stop vs Reverse Stop

​Parent-Child Orders

​Trigger Direction Summary

Basic Order Types

Market Order

Limit Order

Time in Force

Conditional Order Types

Stop Orders

Reverse Stop Orders

Take Profit Orders (TP)

Stop Loss Orders (SL)

Comparison

Key Concepts

Stop vs Reverse Stop

Parent-Child Orders

Trigger Direction Summary